Craho - History and Cultural Relations

In the early nineteenth century the Craho lived near the lower Rio
Balsas, a tributary of the Parnaíba, in an area that is now part
of the state of Maranhão. They were in conflict with cattle
ranchers who were conquering tribal lands with the help of soldiers of
the Portuguese army. After a crushing defeat in 1809, the Craho accepted
peace and migrated to the banks of the Rio Tocantins, where the town of
Carolina was being settled. At that time the Craho became allies of the
Carolina founders in the fighting and enslaving of the neighboring
Indian societies, until they themselves came to be seen by farmers as
cattle thieves and obstacles to colonization. For these reasons, and
also to make a barrier against the Shavante and Sherente Indians (then
in the process of forming two different societies), the Craho were
transferred upriver by Fra Rafael de Taggia, a Capuchin missionary, who
settled them at the junction of the Tocantins and Sono rivers, where he
founded the town of Pedro Afonso. There the Craho lived near the
Sherente until they migrated to the area where they live now.

The Craho established friendly relationships with the farmers,
especially with one, Agostinho Soares. But, in 1940, accusing the Craho
of stealing cattle, the farmers attacked. Lack of coordination
frustrated their intention to wipe out the Indians completely, but about
26 Craho were killed. Prompt intervention by the Brazilian government
led to the trial of the attackers, the delimitation of a reservation,
and the installation of an outpost of the Indian Protection Service.
Although the penalty for the three farmers who led the attack was very
mild, it generated more respect for the Craho on the part of the
regional population. The greed of cattle ranchers and peasants for
tribal lands, however, has not been sated. Memories of that attack and
prejudices resulting from this greed have created the right climate for
the rise of a Craho messianic movement. If, in about 1951, the Craho
would have liked to transform themselves into Whites by messianic
action, in 1986, on the contrary, they launched a campaign to retrieve a
stone ax kept in a warehouse at the Museu Paulista; they succeeded in
taking it back with them and have turned this artifact into the main
symbol of their culture. In 1985 the Craho and Sherente were of great
help to the Apinayé against White invaders of the latter1 s land
and in the campaign for its demarcation.

Because cattle ranchers have no jobs for the Craho and the Indians have
no buyers for their agricultural produce, the Craho remain marginal to
the regional economy and, as a consequence, are able to maintain their
own way of life, a situation that in the past was interpreted as Timbira
cultural conservatism. Compensating for their minimal economic
interchange with regional Whites, the Craho have, since around 1900,
developed the habit of visiting big cities. By exploiting exotica (e.g.,
long hair, big holes in their ear lobes, unintelligible language) and
the favorable romantic stereotypes urban people have about Indians, they
acquire a large number of gifts. Craho contact with regional and urban
Whites and with the Sherente (who speak the Akw language) contributes to
culture change, especially with regard to technology and folk
Catholicism, whereas their contact with other Timbira societies,
particularly , reinforces their own culture.

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